Tech M&A Frenzy Seen Accelerating in 2016

Two thousand and fifteen was a banner year for technology mergers and acquisitions, and market watchers predict that trend will accelerate in 2016 as buyers look beyond consolidation to expansion as technologies converge. Driving the M&A frenzy is technology giants like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) sitting on large piles of cash along with a steady stream of innovative startups. This is especially true in the enterprise IT segment, where ecosystems are flourishing in areas like DevOps and application containers. Meanwhile, companies like IBM (NYSE: IBM) that are shifting to from hardware and software to cloud and other services are busy snapping up startups as they seek to fill gaps in their technology portfolios. Moreover, the sheer number of technology startups toiling in areas such as IT automation…